Ribbon corset

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Waist Cincher 1860

The original health Ribbon Corset from 1906

1 Definition
2 Function
3 In fashion
4 Biological aspects
5 Examples

[edit] Definition

A waist cincher or Ribbon Corset is a type of short corset or wide belt that is used to reduce and shape the waist. It is much tighter than an abdominal belt. The Ribbon Corset is a waist cincher made of ribbon. Pseudo-ribbon corset is a waist cincher which looks like a ribbon corset but it is made of cut pieces instead of ribbons.

[edit] Function

A type of waist cincher been used as light corset for sleep, and another type for light summer corset, used next to the skin or outside of the summer dress. But also an elastic waist cincher been used on the outside of corseted dresses.

[edit] In fashion

The waist cincher was in fashion from 1860 to 1907, particularly 1900 to 1907 and was very rare from 1911 to 1947 and from 1960 to 1985.

Dior's New Look brought it back to popularity around 1947. It became the quintessential undergarment for wearing the nipped-in waists popularized by that style. For a few years, it reigned mainstream, then faded in popularity as the New Look was replaced by other fashion innovations.

[edit] Biological aspects

While the idea of applying force to the waist for aesthetic reasons has fallen out of favor, there were some advantages to the practice. Postural support and pressure to the hip and sacroiliac joints probably helped women maintain health.^{[citation needed]} Childbearing weakens the ligaments in the pelvic area, and the waist cincher is the mid-19th century version of the "girdle" or "kirtle" used for more than a thousand years to improve stability of the mid-section and trunk. Bipedalism, in humans, makes for weakness in the torso. Men wore waist cinchers and corsets (and a variety of other earlier garments) for similar reasons. Prince Albert, the Consort of Queen Victoria, wore very tightly laced waist-cinching corsets, and brought them into vogue for gentlemen's wear.

The waist cincher went beyond mere structural support, though, and into maintaining the distinctly feminine proportions anthropologists now understand have strong sexual appeal.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Examples

Bodice Belt (1893)	Straight-front short corset (1901)	Lady's belt,something between belt and waist cincher (1902)	A Waist Cincher for rest. c. (1905)
A Waist Cincher for a singers costume. (roughly 1905)	Belt Corset (1920)	Belt Corset (1920)